


The Cheater's Handbook

by mylittleduck



Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: Angst, Cheating, Fluff, M/M, Peterick, Romance, Science Fiction, Tragic Romance, Trohley - Freeform, andy isnt in it much wtf, brendon is kinda cookoo, bullshit, dramatic patrick, joe is chill af, no smut just romance, pete fucked up, they all fuck patrick over btw, where did andy go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 11:24:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7682617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylittleduck/pseuds/mylittleduck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wouldn't it just be easier to erase the pain of the cheated? Pete thought so. Everyone thought so. Until it stopped working, and the love wasn't mutual.<br/>This isn't a love story, it's barely even a story at all, it's more of a lesson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cheater's Handbook

Patrick was running, panting with sweat dripping down his face. He focused on his breathing to block out the yells of others surrounding him. Trying to take this time to think, he thought of what he was going to do hours after this torture. It was either more torture, or loneliness- the extra torture really only being more loneliness. 

He swallowed hard, trying to lose himself in his own thoughts. Patrick's life consisted of not knowing what to do, or being completely over his head. There wasn't exactly an in between. He wanted to be remembered for something great, however, he considered himself anything but "great". Most of the time, he was afraid of his own thoughts. They darkened his lighter spirit with dramatic insecurities and wrongful accusations. Patrick's mind was his only real enemy, he was just too soaked in his idea of love, to realize it.

Love. That was something Patrick never realized he was buried in until it was always far too late. Falling for the wrong person, certainly wasn't what Patrick had predicted the next few years of his life to be consumed with. His life up to now was fairly calm, it's the next year that would be filled with the biggest decisions that would determine the rest of his drunken life.

His legs began to grow tired after the first mile, he was starting to taste his own sweat dripping- more like pouring- into his mouth. After he heard the whistles, he dropped to the floor and breathed harshly into his knees. His final high school gym class was finally over.

\---

Patrick had only two friends, Joe and Brendon. Which wasn't necessarily bad considering having a few real friends is a shit load better than having a million fake friends. Joe, he was the "funny one". He always had miraculous new ideas to get the group in trouble. Brendon on the other hand, was in a way the same, just a bit more tamed. They loved Patrick to death, and that meant so much to him. He knew that if the world was dark, they would be his light. He felt as if the three of them could save the world together. They made him feel real happiness when he thought all he could feel was misery. Brendon and Joe were all he had, and all he will ever need.

-

After the last class of the day, Patrick couldn't bare being in that dreaded building of "learning" anymore. He ran outside to meet Brendon and Joe, as if he was set free from a lifetime in prison (which was what highschool basically was). Almost tripping on the loose ends of his shoe laces, he joined his bestfriends in a dramatic group hug.

"We're out, guys." Patrick cheered as he pulled away from their hug, grinning.

The two boys smiled back, "Now...we get all this time to ourselves!" Joe smirked, "Do you think they'd care if the school might be a little vandalized tomorrow morning?"

"Why would you even want to come back here, even for just a second." Brendon scoffed, pulling out his crappy little android phone.

"Man...I don't know..." Joe mumbled, glaring back at the building, "I'm actually going to miss this place." He hummed to himself as he stood there, still staring at the school. Joe was a really big guy on keeping memories forever.

Brendon scoffed, again, "Let's just go idiots." The two other boys nodded back and then followed Brendon out of the parking lot. "To who's house?" Brendon stammered, turning back to Joe and Patrick.

"My mom's not home..." Joe said, winking at them.

"Mine isn't either, she's on some stupid business trip in San Diego." Patrick suggested.

"Well...let's just go to Patrick's" Brendon chuckled.

Patrick lived about a half mile from the school, making it really easy to go straight home after school with his best buddies and not have to face anyone else if he didn't want to. Which, probably wasn't going to be a problem anymore. 

"So...how was your day guys?" Patrick mumbled, trying to make conversation.

"Good!" Brendon and Joe exclaimed in sync. Patrick smiled to himself, their happiness basically radiates on to him most of the time. They walked the rest of the journey to Patrick's house in mostly silence, and it was okay. They had all been extremely worn out from the school day, let alone they were all starving as well. Silence, after a long day of stupid ass people yelling "SCHOOL"S OUT", is all they really wanted, and needed.

-

After they finally succeeded in arriving at Patrick's house, they all grabbed a slice of pizza, a soda can, and their smartphones as they dragged themselves over Patrick's bed.

"Oh!" Joe exclaimed, making the the others a bit startled, "Did I tell you guys the big news?" Joe grinned while he turned over to lay on his stomach. Patrick and Brendon seemed a bit confused and shook their heads. "I uh...I met someone." Brendon and Patrick gasped, sitting up from their lazy positions almost immediately. 

"Who the fuck-" Brendon stammered, looking as confused as Patrick felt. "You don't know anyone but us."

Joe chuckled, "Jokes on you fellas, Andy's a great guy."

"His name's Andy? Cute." Patrick grinned.

"Yes, he is cute. Now stay away-" Joe giggled and blushed to himself, "He's mine."

"Well...go on..tell us more, idiot!" Brendon eagerly mumbled.

Joe giggled, again, "We met a while ago, he looked pretty straight so I didn't try for it until recently. We met when I was originally supposed to meet up with this other guy for coffee, but he never showed. Andy was there, reading and drinking coffee to himself. Vegan of course, he's very serious about that stuff. After an hour of sitting there by myself, I think he sort of noticed how lonely I was; so he sat with me, and we just clicked.  
After hanging out a couple times, under the radar, I got the courage to ask him out on a real date. We had been spending so much alone time together that I started to believe he might actually like me more than a friend-which he does." Joe grinned wider than he has in a very long time, which made Patrick happier too.

"I'm so happy for you Joe, you've got no idea." Patrick mumbled, patting Joe on the back.

"Oh!" Joe exclaimed, sitting up to face his friends, "I told Andy about you guys, and he said if either of you were interested: He can hook up one of you with his friend! We could go on a double date together, well really it would be a blind date for you, but still fun!"

Brendon shrugged, "Patrick you can take this one, I'm not the one for "blind double dates."

Patrick nodded, "Do you know what his friend looks like?"

"Nope-" Joe said sadly, "But Andy said he's pretty attractive so,"

"I've really got nothing going on in my life...so sure." Patrick could tell if he had said no, it would make Joe disappointed, and Patrick couldn't just stomp on his happiness like that. Little did Patrick know, the blind date was going to happen the day after these arrangements were made.

-

The next day, Patrick could feel the anxiety burning up in the pit of his stomach from the second he woke up. Time had been going dreadfully slow, but Patrick took that as a sign that the date was going to go pretty well.

Patrick spent his morning cleaning up the trash from the night before, his mom really shouldn't have left two cases of beers in the fridge with her son and his two idiotic friends. However, none of them really got crazy drunk, just tipsy at the most. It didn't really matter anyway, they spent the night on their phones and laughing at stupid YouTube videos until they had to walk a couple blocks home. That's what was awesome about their friendship: They would really do nothing with each other all day and it wouldn't be boring, they were all only a few blocks away.

-

Patrick was supposed to meet Joe, Andy, and mystery dude at some sort of fancy restaurant, and when he arrived, he could feel the anxiety swallow him whole from the inside. He hoped that Joe was going to be paying for him, he didn't have anything close to the money he was going to need to eat there.

He stumbled inside nervously, hoping to not trip over his embarrassment as he noticed Joe far inside the restaurant in a booth. Joe was facing him, while talking to two other men in front of him. Who were drowning his attention from him noticing Patrick wave. One man was a lighter brown hair, and a little narrow. While the other, well damn the other was bleached blonde. He stood up straighter than the others beside him, also (from what Patrick could tell from behind) he was wearing a black suit, and he wore it quite well.

Patrick nodded at the waitresses, signaling that he already knew where to go and he carefully made his way to Joe's table- never being so nervous in his life. Joe and the light browned had been sitting on the inner sides of the booth, while the blonde was sitting on the outside. Patrick hoped that Andy was the blonde one, he didn't want to have to face his blind date so quickly.

Patrick walked up to the table and slightly grinned at Joe, before facing the other two men as he stood there awkwardly. The blonde had been facing down at his phone, but when he looked up at the awkward man, Patrick could feel the nervousness shoot through his body. He knew it wasn't Andy.

"Hello," The blonde smirked as he stood up to greet Patrick formally with his hand out for him to shake it. Patrick nervously took his hand into his, trying not to give off uncomfortable vibes.

"Hi, I-I'm Patrick." Patrick stuttered, trying a grin at the taller man.

He smirked once again as he gripped onto Patrick's hand, more firmly this time, "Hello Patrick," His hazel eyes stared deeply into Patrick's blue ones, sending shivers down Patrick's body until he finally continued, "I'm Pete."

-

Patrick could feel his eyes glistening onto him as he tried to get to know Andy, Joe's new boyfriend. Even though he didn't look back, he knew he was watching him. A part of Patrick would consider that unsettling, but an even bigger part of him found it flattering. Patrick thought Joe and Andy seemed good together. They told him all about their first date, their favorite things to do together, you know, all that relationship crap. After the first few words, Patrick had already approved of Andy. He knew that he would take really good care of his bestfriend, and that's all he worried about. 

Joe and his new lover kept going back and forth about some new Star Wars movie, while Patrick sat there quietly and listened, and occasionally chuckled. He finally felt the blonde's eyes drift away from him after a couple minutes, and swift to his lap. Patrick assumed that he had been looking down to his phone, so he took this opportunity to turn around and sit properly in his chair rather than being completely turned to Joe. That was until, the blonde looked up from his phone, and smirked at Patrick.

"Boring, isn't it?" Pete mumbled, setting his elbows on the table to hold his head up. Joe and Andy looked over, fascinated that Pete finally spoke.

"What is?" Patrick replied, crossing his arms over the table.

"Having to listen to these dumbasses bicker back and forth." He chuckled, still staring at Patrick.

"Uh...sure..." Patrick awkwardly chuckled. 

-

The rest of the lunch was filled with Joe and Andy flattering each other the whole time, while Pete and Patrick sat there silently. After Patrick gave him a bit of a rude response to what seemed to be a far fetched joke of his, he didn't continue to stare. Like Patrick, he chuckled at Andy and Joe, then back down to his phone. 

It was safe to say: Patrick wasn't interested. Something about that hazel-eyed man, gave him chills. He didn't seem right, he didn't seem like good company. There was a jolt poking at Patrick's gut the whole time telling him not to get involved, so that's what he'll pursue to do. Joe will definitely be disappointed, but Patrick will find a way to make it up to him somehow.

-

"But Patrick!" Joe whined as he plopped himself in Patrick's desk chair.

Patrick walked around him and sighed as he fell into his bed, "I'm sorry Joe." he mumbled as he stared to the ceiling.

Brendon walked into his bedroom with a slice of pizza in one hand, and his phone in the other, "What are you whining about now?" He groaned.

Joe rolled his eyes, "Patrick won't date Pete!"

"Pete? Who the f-"

Patrick interrupted him, saving him from another swear word, "Pete's the guy I went on a blind date with."

"Oh!" He exclaimed in relief. "I thought you fuckers made yet ANOTHER friend without me!" He sighed happily and sat on the floor so he could plug his phone in to charge.

"We would never." Joe chuckled as he turned away to play on Patrick's computer.

Brendon looked a bit confused after a minute, "Wait...but why didn't you like him? I thought he was good looking?"

Patrick sat up in his bed and crossed his legs to face Brendon, "He didn't give off the greatest vibes," he sighed and rested his face into his hands, "I don't know man, he just felt a bit- intimidating."

Joe scoffed and turned around to Patrick, "Intimidating? He barely spoke two words to you!"

Patrick sighed once again and threw himself back into the softness of his blankets. He didn't know why Pete seemed so off to him, and it was painfully frustrating. It's been two days since the date and ever since then he's been trying to figure Pete out, it was driving him mad. Again, something about Pete was gnawing at Patrick's thoughts almost every waking moment. This was so insane, he barely knew the guy. He was completely convinced that this stranger had a hold onto him. It made Patrick so vulnerable. 

"He texted me about you..." Joe said teasingly, hoping to get Patrick's attention as he noticed that the smaller man had drifted off into his thoughts.

Patrick sat up almost instantly, feeling a sudden panic in his chest, "This better not be another fucking joke Joe, because you know I hate this shit. I always take it up the ass and get too pissed off and--" Joe shoved his phone's screen in Patrick's face to shut him up. "Oh, um-" Patrick's eyes widened as he read specific messages on the screen, "He-He wants to take me out again?!" Patrick was shocked, he had been so rude and quiet the whole time. He couldn't seem to take it all in. Joe furrowed his eyebrows at him, making Patrick sigh again, "No."

"I don't think he's taking no for an answer, Stump." Joe sighed as he swirled back to the computer, taking his phone away from Patrick.

Patrick felt the anxiety burn through his chest again. No one, and I mean no one, has ever given Patrick Stump such a feeling. A feeling of complete defeat and loss of words. He felt as if he had to say yes, he felt the need to see that glimmering man. He wanted to feel the voice waves of his words shiver down his body again. He wanted his striking eyes fixated on his again, mapping out every thought that was racing though his mind. He wanted to feel the rush of heat spike through his body when their skin touched. This was all so intense from just a small stranger, it was almost crazy. No no, it was terribly much more than crazy. It was demented. Patrick felt his heart throbbing against his shirt, as if it was about to burst inside of him. He needed to get out of there, out of that room, out of that house. The stares of his friends became too much, too overwhelming. He rushed out of his room and scurried down the stairs to his front door. The fresh air was exceptionally relieving, as he ran out to his front lawn.

What had Pete done to him?

His chest felt as heavy as a hundred bricks. He let out long, and shaky breaths as he ignored his friends hounding him. Patrick closed his eyes and let his mind go free. He felt lighter, he felt fresh again. He didn't feel like thousands of little thoughts were bursting through his head anymore. Every little tug on his chest went away slowly, but surely. Patrick felt as if he could breathe.

This revealing sensation was him giving into his thoughts. He knew that he shouldn't be ashamed for wanting to see Pete again, he knew that shaming himself would only make him even more trapped in his own thoughts. Fuck, his thoughts. Those obnoxious bastards had started getting the best of him. They swirled through his ill-fated brain every second of the day. Well, no shit, they're thoughts, they're supposed to be in your brain 24/7. But Patrick's thoughts? Boy, they were the darker ones. The ones that made him doubt everyone, every situation, every thing, Patrick encountered. They were the ones who haunted him most; they were the ones who persuaded him to see this bad man again.

"Fine!"Patrick breathed heavily.

"Fine, what?" Joe stuttered, looking worriedly at Patrick.

"I'll see him again." Patrick grunted at those words, those dirty words.

Joe nodded, as Brendon patted Patrick on the back. The three of them stumbled into the house again, and up to Patrick's bedroom. Joe had already been making the plans in his head.

-

"Do you really think this is a good idea? It's barely been a day and he's doing it again...maybe we should back out.." Patrick heard Joe whisper to Brendon as they both thought Patrick had fallen asleep, thinking they were talking in private.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Brendon stammers, then quiets down to whisper as he tries not to be too loud due to Patrick, "We've put so much work into this, think about everything we've done, since the very beginning."

Joe nods, and sighs, "I just-" He looks over at Patrick and frowns a little bit, "I feel so bad for him, he's already so beat up..."

Brendon sighs as well, looking at Patrick with Joe, "I know, I know." He sighs and taps Joe's thigh so he looks at him, "But, it's too late, it's gone too far to stop now. We made a deal, we did this to make Patrick happy, in the long run."

After a bunch of sexual innuendos, and sarcastic dad jokes, Joe and Brendon fell asleep. Patrick was so bewildered, what had they been talking about? This kept him up for a couple more hours. Since when had his only two friends kept something from him? It sounded so serious, god, it sounded like they joined a cult, or a gang, or something and they couldn't back out of it; but what did that have to do with Patrick? He couldn't stop these questions race through his mind.

-

"Al's Diner." Joe mumbled as he focused on the dark road ahead of him.

"That's really what you thought of?" Patrick asked, amused.

Joe nodded instead of replied, as he turned up the radio. It's been a week and a couple days since Patrick overheard the strange conversation between his friends. He hasn't mentioned it, nor have they said anything to him that was similar to their conversation. Patrick felt that he could get more out of them if he listened in on another conversation, rather than confronting them about it. If he outed himself, they would probably make up a story, or pretend they had no idea what Patrick was talking about. Or maybe they would be straight up, and tell Patrick everything they had been keeping from him. He didn't know what to do, they had never left him out before, on anything.

-

Twenty minutes into the drive, they finally arrived at the diner. Joe could spot Andy's car somewhere in the midst of the parking lot so he knew the beloved vegan was already there. "They should be here." Joe mumbled, as he shut the car off and sighed. "Please, at least try to get along with Pete, for me?"

Patrick nodded, "Joe, he just, he gives me weird vibes. I feel like I shouldn't be messing with whatever baggage he has."

He noticed how Joe gripped onto the steering wheel and scrunched up his face, as if he was getting frustrated with Patrick's words. "Patrick. Just, please." He groaned.

"Fine, okay, damn man, you alright?" Patrick placed a hand on Joe's shoulder, until he shrugged it off.

"I'm fine." Joe stumbled out of the car and shut the door behind him. Damn.

The two boys walked into the diner, filled with scattered people. They both noticed the blonde hair sticking out of a small crowd, though. They went over to the booth in the farthest corner, and found Andy and Pete bickering about some musician. Patrick awkwardly sat down next to Pete, while Joe basically threw himself into Andy's lap. There was a jazz band playing, Patrick thought they sounded great, considering he's really into some jazz music. He looked over his shoulder and watched the band perform, keeping his eyes busy so he didn't have to talk to Pete.

That was, until Patrick noticed a felt a light tap on his shoulder. His stomach basically dropped to his shoes. He turned around to a grinning Pete, "Hello, again, Patrick." He smiled and let his hand rest on his shoulder. Patrick would be lying if he said that he didn't want to leave.

"H-Hello." Patrick stuttered, trying not to awkwardly smile back.

"God, where is that waiter will our stupid drinks?" Andy complained while Joe giggled and rested his head on his shoulder, Patrick only awkwardly laughed.

Pete frowned and got Patrick to look at him again, "You're-You're not having a good time, are you?" He sounded disappointed.

"I um, sure." Patrick responded, he could hear Joe sigh at that response.

"You don't have to lie," Pete mumbled, looking down at his lap.

"Pete, I just, I feel like you're bad news. I'm really sorry but my stupid instincts are telling me you're a bad idea. I don't really know what you see in me, or why you thought a second date would make me like you but-" Patrick was interrupted by Pete quietly sniffling.

"Excuse me-" Pete shot up from his seat and raced to what seemed to be the restrooms. Joe gave Patrick a dirty look and hurried after Pete.

Patrick looked up at Andy and felt nothing but guilt."I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean to-" 

"That's alright. Pete's just, emotional right now." Andy replied. 

They both nodded, and sat there in silence, until Patrick figured he should check on Pete. He did make him cry after all. He cautiously walked to the restrooms and stumbled into the Men's. He didn't see anyone, until he heard Pete crying in the stall and Joe whispering things to him. Patrick stayed as quiet as possible as he tried to hear what they were whispering about.

"Pete..." Joe rubbed Pete's back as he sat on the floor, sobbing into his hands. "Pete it's okay, it's okay we can fix this."

"No no, even after all we fucking did, he still hates me!" Pete choked up on his tears.

"At least, he doesn't really know why..." Joe had felt so guilty, like it might have been his fault. "We can't go back now, and you know that. Brendon and I can fix this, we know how Patrick works."

Pete sobbed even harder into his sweater's sleeves, "I just want him to fucking remember me!"

Joe opened the stall door to grab some more paper towels to clean Pete up with, until he saw Patrick standing there, completely bewildered. Pete looked up to see what was taking Joe so long, then he saw Patrick too, and went completely pale. "How long had you been fucking standing there?" Joe exclaimed.

Patrick eyes went wide as he had never saw Joe that mad before, or even mad at all, mostly just annoyed. He stormed out of the restroom and out of the diner, avoiding contact with Andy. What the hell was going on? What the fuck are they keeping behind Patrick's back? Patrick wasn't confused anymore, no , he was pissed.

-

Patrick woke up the next morning with a groan and a pillow stained to his face. He heard his alarm going off, which was strange because he didn't remember setting an alarm for so early. He barely managed to open his crusty eyes after a few moments and slammed his alarm clock off. What the fuck? He heard a loud pounding at his door, and a few seconds later stormed in his rushed mother.

"Honey, Patrick, it's time to get up! I'm leaving to San Diego today so you're going to have to walk home from school." She stammered while she broke open daylight into Patrick's room by spreading the curtains side to side. 

"School? San Diego?" Patrick mumbled sleepily, rubbing his eyes. "Didn't you go to San Diego a few weeks ago?"

She chuckled, "No...I had told you about it but no..." She was just as confused as Patrick was. "But sweetheart, you need to get up now."

"For what?"

"Your last day of school silly," She chuckled and strutted to the bedroom door. "Just one more day, one more day." She grinned before leaving to put more makeup on before Patrick was ready.

 

Patrick's head was pounding, this didn't make sense. School ended a long time ago, he specifically remembered everything that's happened since then. Joe meeting Andy, him meeting Pete, him making Pete cry. That couldn't have been all a dream, it couldn't have. No matter how confusing this whole morning had already been, he got up anyway. It only took Patrick a max of five minutes to "get ready for school". All he needed to do was throw on some clean clothes, fix his hair, and sometimes brush his teeth if he felt like it.

-

The car ride to the school seemed long. Patrick kept fiddling with the fabric at the end of his shirt and bit his dry bottom lip the whole way there. He only did those things when he was nervous, and repeating the last day of high school might have been a good enough reason for his anxiety to be shooting through the roof of his mom's mini van. His mom kept repeating her rules, since he was going to be home alone for the next week and a half.

"Remember, 1. No parties. 2. Keep the house clean. and 3. At least try to get more than three hours of sleep". She pointed her finger at him as she was trying to keep most focus on the road. 

"I got it, mom." Patrick groaned, he had to hear those three things more times than he preferred.

-

Eight hours later, Patrick had been more confused than ever. He had already lived that day, he had already heard a thousand morons yell "SCHOOL"S OUT", after the last class. That morning, he thought maybe he forgot an extra day of school or something, but after every calendar reading June 8th, he didn't know what to think.

Patrick couldn't bare being in that dreaded building ,again, he thought he'd never have to go back. "Hey, guys." He breathed hard as he ran out to his friends in front of the school building, hoping that they knew what was going on.

The two boys smiled before pulling Patrick into a tight a hug then letting go after a few seconds, still grinning, "Now that school's over...we get all this time to ourselves!" Joe smirked, "Do you think they'd care if the school might be a little vandalized tomorrow morning?"

"Why would you even want to come back here, even for just a second?" Brendon scoffed, pulling out his crappy little android phone.

"Man...I don't know..." Joe mumbled, glaring back at the building, "I'm actually going to miss this place." He hummed to himself as he stood there, still staring at the school. Patrick furrowed his eyebrows, everything seemed the same.

Brendon scoffed, again, "Let's just go idiots." Joe nodded back and then followed Brendon as he started walking out of the parking lot. 

"Wait! Guys!" Patrick exclaimed, a little more frustrated with his confusion. "What the fuck is going on? Didn't school end weeks ago?!"

Brendon and Joe stood there, their faces filled with both amusement and puzzled looks. "No...what are you talking about?" Joe laughed, crossing his arms.

Patrick huffed and scrunched up his nose, "Never mind, who's house should we go to? My mom's not home, she went to San Diego today, apparently."

"My mom's not home either..." Joe said, winking at them.

 

"Well...let's just go to Patrick's" Brendon chuckled.

Patrick wanted to burst with anger the entire voyage home, how could everyone just forget everything that's happened? Half way through the walk, Patrick couldn't handle not knowing what was going on anymore. 

"What about Pete?" He mumbled, stopping behind his friends.

Joe and Brendon turned back, before looking at each other (pale-faced). "W-what?" Joe stuttered. He looked as if Patrick just told him his french bulldog died.

"Is he okay? I didn't mean to make him cry-" Patrick gulped, looking up at Joe to see his reaction.

Brendon cursed under his breath, "It didn't fucking work, what did you fuck up this time?" 

"I don't fucking know! I've done it so many times, I guess I got sloppy with my work." Joe whined.

Patrick was wide-eyed, with his face stuck on a puzzled look, "What are you-"

Joe and Brendon smiled, then patted Patrick on the back. "It's okay buddy, I'll fix this." Joe said somewhat reassuringly. Patrick nodded, then followed his friends as they continued walking. He really had nothing else to say, if they wanted Patrick to know what was going on, they would've told him. This strong trust was going to be a burden to their friendship soon.

-

The next morning, Patrick was awoken by another screaming alarm clock. He popped up from his covers, and scurried from his bed and out to the hallway, bumping into his mom. She smiled awkwardly, "You in a rush?" She chuckled.

"Mom, what day is it?" He choked out.

"Oh, its June...uh...June 8th, I think." She smiled as she fixed her dress at her knees, "Are you excited for your last day of school?"

Patrick nodded, then slammed his bedroom door. His heart and head were pounding, it felt colder in his room than usual. By this time, Patrick had learned not to trust that he's safe even when his bedroom door was locked. Lies were everywhere he turned. 

Patrick's mom was almost speeding, he felt like. He tapped his foot on the car rug impatiently as his mother fiddled with the the strings from the steering wheel cover as she drove. She seemed so nervous, she hadn't been this way the last time- last two times- she drove him to school on this day that won't end. Patrick played with the straps on his backpack as time went terrible slow, and his concern grew after his mom didn't look at him the entire car ride.  
After a while, she finally hesitated, "Remember honey, um, there's rules that you need to follow um-"  
"I know, I know, No parties, keep the house clean, and try to get more sleep." Patrick mumbled nervously as he noticed his mom stare out to the road even though she had been speaking to him. Something his mom never did.

-

The rest of Patrick's uneventful day was, well, uneventful. He didn't cross his friends once though. Not in the morning, not in the hallways, not in lunch, not anywhere he would usually spot them. He found that extremely strange considering the last two times on this day, he had seen them multiple times.

He even walked walked home by himself, not meeting his friends outside due to their absence. Getting home was such a relief, hopefully he wouldn't have to live this day another time. He couldn't take high school anymore, Patrick had been running on his last fumes to get through the last couple weeks and reliving it was not helping. He pulled out his phone to call Brendon, no, Joe. No, Brendon. No, neither. Truth is, Patrick had no idea who so trust anymore. There seemed to be so much he didn't know.

"H-Hello?" Brendon hesitated through the phone.  
"Hey! Where were you and Joe at school today? It was the last day!" Patrick decided he should play along. After thinking about everything, he noticed things. Why would Brendon ask Joe if he had fucked up? Did they purposely do this to him? Patrick was going to find out on his own.  
Brendon cleared his throat. "Uh-" Patrick could hear him whispering in the background, he could hear Joe whispering too. "We just got caught into something. Can we go over now?" 

-

Patrick obviously let them over. Hoping for some answers, Patrick sat there with his friends impatiently. They had been in his bedroom, Brendon and Joe scrolling through their phones while Patrick stared at them. He tried to act as normal as possible. 

-

Eventually, Joe brought Andy up, then he brought the mysterious blonde up. Who Patrick still knew as Pete, the man he made cry. And as soon as Patrick knew it, he was sitting across Pete and Andy again, with Joe by his side.  
Patrick played this one differently, though. He kept smiling at Pete, laughing at his jokes, even talked to him a little bit. He was desperate for answers, and if it meant leading this man on, then so be it. Pete had seemed to be buying it as well, he even held Patrick's hand, which Patrick graciously accepted.

-

As the dinner date was over, Pete stood up and offered a hug for Patrick. But no, Patrick needed to really seal this deal. So he pulled the blonde man in for a kiss, a kiss that hadn't been as bad as he thought. They could both hear their forgotten friends gasp in the background, but Pete had been too hazy from the kiss to pay too much attention.  
Pete offered for Patrick to stay the night, which was okay seeing that Patrick was already 18, and legal. His mother was "out of town" anyways so she wouldn't notice.  
The car ride seemed, familiar. Pete put on some of Patrick's favorite music, he wrapped his free arm around Patrick (somehow knowing Patrick liked that most about car rides), Pete even (somehow) had Patrick's favorite candy ready for him. Just like he knew everything about him already. Patrick giggled at Pete's big goofy smile, it was a familiar feeling.

-

Pete's house was rather large, for just himself. The front yard consisted of rose bushes and fresh green summer grass; Patrick almost felt guilty for walking all over it. Stepping into the living room was the most exciting, though. There was a big TV plastered onto the wall with leather couches and soft rugs around it. However, that was the only room Patrick was going to see that night.  
Patrick didn't really have a plan. He had no idea how he was going to get the blonde man to spill all his dirty secrets. So, he sat. On Pete's leather couch, snuggling up to the man as he joined him. Pete ran his fingers through Patrick's hair, admiring it's color and softness. The lights in the room were dimmed, and the house was terrifyingly silent. Their soft and steady breaths were the only sounds filling up the room.

Unfortunately, this nice moment was about to end. "So. How does a stupid guy like me make a guy like you cry on a bathroom floor?" Patrick mumbled, sitting up to face Pete.

 

Pete Wentz, went pale. "W-What?" He stuttered.  
"Oh come on blondie...you know what I'm talking about." Patrick smiled cockily, but innocently. Pete stayed silent, so Patrick continued. "Whatever you guys are doing, keeps failing. It's failed two times now. Obviously, it's gotten old. Like this date."

 

Pete's eyes darted at Patrick, as if they were asking him to shut the fuck up. "You don't...you don't know what you're talking about." Pete looked away, holding his jaw in his hand.  
Patrick laughed, "Oh! But I do! Tell me why my friends are literally reliving this time in their lives over and over again, just for this date. Enough secrets, stranger."

 

Pete gulped, then stood up to walk over to his stash of books. He pulled out what seemed to be this large binder thing. He stumbled back over to Patrick, hesitating at first, but then handing over the book. Patrick raised an eyebrow and accepted the book. He opened it and the first page read, "Patrick and Pete. 2009-2011." As he kept turning the pages, he saw pictures of Pete and this other guy. The guy was small with strawberry blonde hair. He looked happy in every single photo, happy to be next to Pete. This guy looked a lot like Patrick, but Patrick didn't recognize him. 

He saw his drunk and out of belief self in every single photograph. He stayed silent as he kept flipping each plastic page, leaving Pete's presence out of his thoughts. Pete, however, hadn't even been in the room. He left to the bathroom when Patrick was only three pages in.

 

When the bleached-haired figure came back, Patrick had already set the picture binder down, and set his gaze on Pete. Pete gulped and sat beside him. "What is that?" Patrick's breath trembled under his words.  
"It's um, it's a photo album." Pete, stating the obvious.  
"Wow, really? Gosh I didn't know that!" Patrick stood up, and moved himself away from the other man. "What is that?"  
Pete hooked his fingers onto the fabric of his jeans, not wanting to stare up at Patrick but he did anyway. "I cheated on you." He finally mumbled.  
Patrick's eyes grew big as he scoffed, "What? We've been on one 'date'?"  
"No...we've been on many. Our honeymoon was probably my favorite." Pete laughed nervously, finally looking away from Patrick's blue eyes.  
Patrick's eyes grew even wider at his words, "What the actual fuck?"  
"Patrick, you're not 18. You're actually 23." Pete mumbled, gulping hard again.  
"No...I'm 18. I just graduated high school!" Patrick exclaimed, sitting on the sofa again, but farthest away from Pete.  
"Well, you aren't wrong. But, you've graduated countless of times." The blonde sighed. He decided maybe now was the time to tell a story. "We fell in love, in high school. We were so happy--" He stopped himself, leaving Patrick's face puzzled.  
"Pete? Are you okay? Do you need to be taken to a fucking mental hospital due to your damn insanity?" Patrick stood up. "This was a mistake. I wanted answers but all you're doing is reciting some fucking romance fairy tale!"  
Pete stood up instantly, "You're not listening to me! Fucking listen!" Patrick was frightened when the other man yelled this at him, even going pale. They stood there, staring at each other and panting as they both just screamed in anger. Patrick could see the raging frustration beaming off Pete's face. He decided, maybe he should give Pete a chance to explain his little story.  
Patrick nodded and sat down, crossing his arms. Pete sighed and sat down as well, "Thank you." He faced Patrick, staring into his eyes as he said his next chosen words, "We, uh- We didn't work out. Due to me of course. I screwed that all up."  
"Okay. I don't care about how we 'didn't work out'. Can you just explain how you've clearly gotten my age wrong?" Patrick muttered, annoying Pete again as he obviously wasn't open minded to the story.

 

Pete huffed once again, "I'm not wrong. You're 23 years old, and-" There was a tremendously loud knock on the door. They both cocked their heads quickly at the pounding. "Who is that? It's late..." Pete muttered to himself as he stood up and jogged to the door.

Brendon was angrily standing on the other side of the door, Pete found out as he swung it open. He had his arms crossed, frowning at Pete. "Where is he?" Brendon yelled, loud enough for Patrick to grow curious and run to the door as well.  
"Brendon? W-What are you doing here?" Patrick stuttered, obviously scared due to not knowing what his "friend" was capable of; and the fact that Pete was the only one who actually told him the truth.  
"We're leaving." Brendon grabbed a hold of Patrick's arm and tugged him out of the door frame. He pulled the latter to his car, while Patrick looked behind at Pete with fear in his eyes. Brendon sat Patrick in the back of his car as he sat in the front. Patrick still gazed at Pete, even when he closed his front door and they drove away.

-

"Here, take this." Brendon handed Patrick five small little pills and a tall glass of water.  
Patrick sat on the edge of his bed as he glared at the pills in his palm. His room was quite dark, the only things showing light was the moon right outside his window and Brendon's phone lit dimly as he scrolled through it. "What are these?" Patrick mumbled.

 

Brendon looked up from his phone. He was sitting across the room on Patrick's desk chair, his legs on Patrick's desk. "They're going to make it all better. So drink up pattycakes." Brendon smiled, or at least Patrick thought he did due to his room being so dark.

 

Patrick obeyed as he swallowed all five blue pills at once, making Brendon chuckle. "You usually hesitate, or take one at a time. Guess you're getting used to it." Brendon mumbled as he stood up. That was what Patrick remembered before his head hit the pillows and everything went black.

 

-

Patrick woke up in the back of seat of a moving car. The car was going quite fast, and sun was hitting him directly in the face as he stared up at the car roof. His eyesight was blurry, he didn't have his glasses on. He pressed his hands around his chest, and onto the pockets of his pants, but still no glasses found. He stood up and scratched the top of his head. He could see a figure driving the car and staring blankly at the road in front of him, not even looking back at Patrick. The blurred figure finally spoke, "Glad to see you awake." Patrick recognized this voice, it was Pete.  
"Pete?" Patrick rubbed his sleepy eyes. "What's happening?"  
"We're leaving." Pete mumbled as he handed Patrick his glasses.  
Patrick put his glasses on and the blonde finally became clear. "Leaving? Where? Did you just kidnap me?"  
Pete laughed at that. "You'll be glad I did."  
Patrick climbed over to the passenger seat and he buckled up and curled into a little ball. He didn't bother asking questions, he knew Pete was trustworthy, so he waited. As they kept driving along, clouds came in and it started pouring rain. The smell of wet grass and cement filled Patrick's lungs. However, unlike everyone else apparently, he hated the smell.

-

The smell of rain fogged up the already humid hotel room. Sunlight cracked through the old dusty curtains. The small air conditioner squeaked and buzzed quite loudly, filling the noise compartment of the room.

Pete had drove Patrick far away, nowhere specific but far enough that it took the whole day to get there. By the time they checked into the cheapest hotel they could find,the moon already dawned over the world and their bodies were far more than ready for sleep. When morning peeped through the windows, the rain clouds drifted but left the stained smell of pouring rain behind. At this time, Patrick woke up on the scratchy "carpet" floor with clouded thoughts and a bad headache. 

As fuzzy as his eyesight was, he could still see three figures standing over him, which creeped him the fuck out. He scrambled for his glasses then looked again. Pete, Joe and Brendon had been standing above him, arguing.

"How could you be such a blasting idiot?! He's not supposed to find out, and we're not letting you ruin that." Brendon furiously shouted at Pete.

"M-Maybe this is a good thing? Maybe we should just let Patrick take his own course..w-with the truth.." Joe mumbled, obviously a little frightened.

Brendon beamed his anger towards him now, "You too?"

Pete looked down at Patrick, with worry in his eyes. That was until Patrick sat up and startled his friends. "Okay. Someone needs to tell me what's going on, right now."

Everyone stayed silent as Patrick stood up with him and crossed his arms, he was angry. He was fed up with all the secrets, shit, wouldn't you be pissed too?

"You need to sit down." Pete was now teary-eyed as he said this, putting his hand on Patrick's shoulder.

Patrick shoved him away and sat in the center of the bed, as the boys surrounded him. Brendon still looked furious, Joe still looked scared and Pete was now sitting in front of Patrick as he cried into his hands. Patrick didn't know whether to comfort him or not, so he just sat there staring at him. "You were just so mad, and sad, and I didn't know how to fix it..." Pete's sentence trailed off as he choked on some of his tears.

Patrick only continued to stare, he had been so confused. His life up to then had been normal, and drama-free. Now all of a sudden there's this older guy that's got a huge hold on him that he can't no longer ignore. Patrick feels as if he's known Pete his entire life, he feels so comfortable and warm around him. On the other hand, he also has this huge jolt of insecurities, and unsureness. He felt as if he needed to protect and hide himself from Pete, as if Pete was going to hurt him. It had been the most confusing and frustrating time, other than when Patrick was trying to figure out his sexuality. Maybe that problem was easier than this one, the only person keeping secrets from him had been himself, not everyone surrounding him. 

"Patrick, your last name isn't even Stump." Joe jumped into the conversation, since no one had seemed to. "It's Wentz. You and Pete are married." Patrick only continued to stare blankly, but this time at Joe, then Brendon caught his attention, "Maybe we should explain a little more." Brendon sat beside Patrick and looked sadly into his eyes. "I guess we did what we could, now we have to face our consequences." Patrick gulped, it felt like small shards of glass were shooting through his arms and stomach. He knew that they were keeping secrets, but marriage, that's a hell of a secret to keep from your "bestfriend".

"You, Patrick Wentz, are married. You got married about...five and a half years ago? You were insanely young, but hey, it was to someone you loved so dearly. Plus, it wasn't an actual marriage." Patrick felt a lot of weight lifted off of his chest, at least it wasn't a real commitment. "It was fake, just until your parents felt you were old enough to get the real deal." Brendon continued.

"It was, it was beautiful." Pete mumbled, tears streaming down his scruffy face. "It was the happiest you had ever been. The ceremony, the reception, all of it you were just so happy Patrick. Even though it wasn't real, you pushed for there to be an actual ceremony." Pete laughed softly, looking to his lap. "That was, until I ruined that all."

"What did you do?" Patrick was scared to ask that question, he was afraid of the question. He immediately regretted spilling those forbidden words when Pete eyes widened as he looked up at him. Pete looked lost of his words, as if he forgot everything he knew of the English language, even though it was the only language he spoke.

"He cheated." Joe blurted out, Pete and Brendon stared viciously at him. Joe looked at them curiously, "What? He needs to know the truth more than whatever lies you guys were probably about to feed him."

Patrick felt his stomach settle, "Okay? So what? Everybody cheats at least once, it's not this big deal." he questioned.

"Yeah, except, it actually was a big deal." Joe mumbled as he went back to looking at Patrick, "You spiraled out of control, you literally went insane. There were drugs, partying, and so much alcohol...but strangely you never cheated back. You were more interested in hurting yourself than hurting Pete."

This didn't sound like Patrick, at all. He was definitely more on the "reserved" side of life. What Patrick knew of himself, he had always been so bitter and antisocial. Parties to him were more like eating all the food he wanted while his internet was good at three in the morning. Drinking to him was more like finding out how much coffee he could drink to keep himself awake throughout all the Netflix movies. Doing drugs to him was more like how many cookies he could stuff down his throat till he felt like he needed to vomit his entire stomach out. All of that to Patrick was better than drinking till your throat burnt out and you end of waking up to some stranger's maid cleaning up the house you had partied in the night before. Patrick only went out of control once, and it was actually not the worst experience ever. He wasn't with Brendon or Joe, by the way. He was with an older friend, when he had only been 15. All the people at the party had been 18 and up, but Patrick couldn't care less at the sight of alcohol, at the sight of freedom from his problematic life. Or at least, he thought it was problematic. If Patrick isn't a party person, he's definitely a dramatic person. The night was great, actually. He finally let go of his shy self and had fun. However, the morning after was when it all went crumbling down. Somehow he actually did wake up to someone's maid cleaning up his puke, but that's not all that surprised him that morning. Somehow his parents found out and he was grounded for a long ass time, too long to tell. After his parents scolding him for the next few months, he had probably been hardest on himself. He thought of how "stupid" and "immature" he was. Even after his parents laid off of him, he continued to throw the shame onto himself. He didn't allow himself to go out with friends, he always went straight home after school, he didn't even let himself go on the internet as much. Instead he stared at his ceiling all night, wondering if he could ever forgive himself for doing such "wrong". It wasn't a big deal compared to what most teenagers do, but like I said, Patrick is definitely a dramatic person.

"Maybe it wasn't the cheating, it was the fact that I lied to you." Pete broke Patrick out of his thoughts. "You said this better yourself but you kept saying that the reason you were hurt wasn't because of the cheating. I never understood until I finally put my brain on the words. You were hurt because out of all people, you thought I was the person who could never make you feel expired. You thought that I was-" He was cut off by the tears he had been trying to hold back, he cleared his throat and continued, "You thought I was loyal. You thought I would never make you feel alone again. Once you described it as 'a thousand small needles stabbing at your chest at every thought of it'. Poetic. I think the fact that I didn't exactly cheat with a stranger, made it so much worse."

Brendon put his hand on Pete's shoulder, trying to calm him down. "That was, until the incident." Brendon mumbled, wiping Pete's tears off of his scratchy skin.

"What incident?" Patrick asked, being afraid of this question as well.

"One night, after drinking at some club, you decided to drive home yourself. I'm assuming you were not only wasted out of your numbed mind, but angry as well. That's all you ever were after Pete cheated, you were always so infuriated with everyone. You got in a terrible accident, thank god no one was actually killed. You had only wrapped your car around a tree like a bow. That's when we all decided that you weren't going to get better, you only kept pushing yourself over the line." Joe stated all these facts that busted through Patrick's crowded brain, then he took a few little blue pills out of his pocket. "I'm sure you've seen these before, knowing Brendon, he was probably a little cocky with getting you to drink these." He held up one of them to Patrick's face, "These, were our 'miraculous solution."

Patrick took the pill into his sweaty palms and examined it, since he hadn't paid too much attention to them before. "What are they supposed to do?"

Joe sighed a bit and held his pride. "They knock you out completely. And maybe, you know, erase some brain cells..."

"Erase some what?" Patrick screeched.

"They made it easier for you to 'forget' about my disloyalty." Pete jumped in.

"As cheesy and stupid as it sounds, they erased some memory of yours. Basically any memory of Pete." Joe continued.

"You didn't..." Patrick's voice trailed off, he had clearly been in shock.

"It's 2016 Patrick, this kind of stuff exists now. We took advantage of it. I guess it only works for a few years, we've been doing this for so long now." Brendon explained, not really caring about the shocked look on Patrick's face.

"The only reason it took so many years was because we kept fucking up. We would give you the pills, then try to recreate you meeting Pete. However Pete started to get sick of being in high school all the time so we changed up the scenario. We tried and tried, feeding you more and more pills, until they just stopped working." Joe explained.

Patrick quickly stood up from the bed, pushing Pete's shaky hands away from his knee. He was angry, devastated, but so angry at the same time. The past few weeks-- few years (apparently) had all been this big extravagant lie. It had just been his (closest) friends and (ex) lover leaving an impression on his eyesight. Patrick huffed and puffed, his mind going ballistic. He raged out of the hotel room and stormed down the creaky stairwell. It had been pouring again, dark stormy clouds and the lightning reminded him of what was happening in his mind at the moment. 

He heard heavy feet stomp quickly in the puddles of rain behind him, then suddenly he felt a set of heavy hands on each of his shoulders. Patrick had already been standing in the rain, so his shirt made "slap" sound in contact with the hands due to being soaked. He was quickly turned around, and there he faced that blonde mysterious man from the fancy restaurant. That weeping man on the restaurant floor. That stranger that wrapped his arms around his forgotten self in the old photographs. There he faced Pete, the one who lied. Their hair had been flatten by the pouring rain, pressed against both their foreheads as small rain drops trickled down their cheeks and the sides of their mouths. Pete's eyes were darkened with nostalgia of seeing Patrick like this again, breathless and centimeters away from his face. Pete cupped Patrick's cheeks and rubbed his thumbs against rain drops and soft skin. The thunder, the rain pounding against the cement, the wind howling against their ears, they were all chanting for their lips to be joined together once again. Pete heard their yells, so he listened. He pulled Patrick in, pressing his chapped lips into Patrick's soft and plump ones. They stood there, both their hands in each other's hair, kissing passionately under the dark skyline.

Pete pulled back, staring deeply into Patrick's flushed eyes. Then he pulled the shorter man into a tight hug and whisper softly against his ear, "I've missed you so much, 'Trick."

Patrick clung onto Pete's soaked t-shirt, nuzzling his nose into Pete's scent. He didn't know what cursed him to fall into Pete's gaze, but it had felt so right to him. The moment felt so pure and rare. He would hold onto this moment for the rest of his life. It was the most romantic time he's ever had in a hotel parking lot.

-

Pete wrapped his damp hip with a warm hotel towel, he had been in a deep need of a hot shower after shivering from the ice cold rain. He stumbled out of the bathroom, dragging waves of fog with him at his footsteps. Patrick was wrapped of tightly in the bed covers, his hair still a bit wet from the shower that he took before Pete took his. Patrick's eyes shifted to Pete's presence, then immediately to his hazel eyes. Pete ruffled his own wet hair then tugged on a loose shirt, then rushed to put his boxers on beneath his towel. He threw the wet towel to the side and joined Patrick onto the single bed.

It had been dark outside now. The stars were twinkling and peaking from the parted clouds, and the wind swished against the windows. Joe and Brendon were kicked out after Pete and Patrick's-- moment. Pete had ordered pizza for them as their clothes dried off. They spent hours sitting around, waiting for the right time to speak. They swayed around each other and stared, but not one single word. Maybe they had both been in "awe". Words had crept on their lips every so often, but never made their way out.

Pete sighed deeply, covering himself with the thick blankets and looked up to the ceiling. Patrick flopped his body around to face him, having words tingle on his lips again. "What's your favorite movie?" Patrick rushed out. 

"What?" Pete murmured, turning his head to face him.

"You know everything about me, while I don't know anything about you. I thought I should get to know you by starting off with the simplest question I could think of. So, what's your favorite movie?"

The blonde chuckled, still shivering a bit under the covers. "Anything directed by Tim Burton. Or Harry Potter, I've always had a special place in my heart for those movies."

Patrick grinned, "Okay, good, tell me more."

"Like what?" Pete squeaked, a smile wiping across his face as he turned over on his side to get closer to Patrick.

"Favorite color, go."

"Uhm. Red. It's bright, like your smile." Pete mumbled.

Patrick blushed, "Red's not that bright."

"Fine. Then your smile is just bright, unlike the color red." They had both been smiling like idiots, their hair soaking the thin pillow cases.

-

Hours passed. Pete and Patrick, well, they had seemed to be having one of those conversations that lasted forever. They got closer and closer to each other's shivering bodies as each question and giggle appeared. Soon enough, their arms had been hung onto each other, with their legs tangled together under the sheets. One of Pete's large hands found its way back to Patrick's (now dry) hair, while the other found his hip. Their bodies were sending waves of heat to each other, keeping them warm.

After a few minutes of silence, of Pete just looking into Patrick's beating eyes, Patrick asked, "Who was it?". Pete tilted his head at this, not completely catching onto his question. "Who did you cheat on me with?" Patrick continued.

"Oh. Uhm. Some dude, I met at a lonely bar." Pete said this, while looking away from the other's eyes.

Patrick frowned, "You said it wasn't a stran-"

"Could we not talk about this? It's the past, everything's different now. I'm different now." Pete interrupted Patrick's defense of his own words. Pete pressed a small kiss to Patrick's forehead before reaching over to shut off the lamp that had been the only light source of the room. "It's late, we should get some sleep." He murmured, pressing Patrick even closer to his body.

Patrick nodded and pressed his face to Pete's chest, moving up and down slightly due to his breathing. However, Patrick would not be able to sleep. It had been such an eventful day for him. Waking up to three shouting men above his sleeping body, finding out that these three people knew him more than he thought they did, and spending the rest of his day with a stranger that knew him to the bottom of his core. Typically, past Patrick would be freaking out. He would be shouting, throwing things, and basically driving until his gas pedal wouldn't budge anymore. Current Patrick had been obviously more calm now. Don't get me wrong, his mind was swirling with questions and doubts, but he kept it together for the outside world.

-

Anxiety struck at the tick of noon as Patrick's sleeping body awoke. Patrick's eyes wandered around the blurry room, looking for a person that seemed to be no where inside. He set his glasses on and looked around again, still not finding Pete.

Patrick's stomach filled with butterflies, his hand starts trembling. His mind filled with memories from the day before. Waking up for Patrick was either a dream or nightmare. Just for a second, as your eyes crack open, you forget everything. You forget your troubles, your lusts, your dreams. Then after a few seconds, it starts to flood in all at once and hit you in the face. Usually, Patrick doesn't like this time of a day, he always classified it as the worst part of his morning. Although, he loved it, he loved this morning. Instead of insecurities and doubts filling his thoughts, they were good feelings. He remembered how his lips moved against Pete's or how secure he felt in Pete's arms.

Love. That was something Patrick feared. Love was something that filled Patrick up to his fingertips and ends of his toes. He had been so soaked in this idea of, love. He swallowed hard and lost himself in his thoughts of Pete, the images of Pete scattered through his eyesight. Falling for the wrong person, certainly wasn't what was happening to Patrick right now. He was no longer lonely, he was no longer miserable, he had Pete.

Except. There was one thing holding him back from just packing his bags and running away with Pete to the ends of the earth. Who did Pete screw? Yes, yes he screwed Patrick over before but who did Pete screw? Screw meaning "have sex with". Maybe it was that hot cheerleader in their gym class. Or that smart, really cute guy in their physics class (Pete had a thing for smart people more than he did for "hot" people). Why would he have done that anyway? Alcohol? Drugs? Peer Pressure? 

They were all loose ends for Patrick. He fumbled with the silk edge of the bed sheets, as he found a way to make his hands do something when he was nervous. He huffed and stared blankly up to the plain ceiling. "Where even is Pete?" He mumbled softly to himself. However, Patrick did not worry. Pete had strangely always found his way back to Patrick, he always found a way to surprise him with his presence. Patrick didn't mind.

He got up from the warm bed and flinched when the cold air washed up and down his body, causing him to shiver. He ran up to his phone that had been plugged into the wall for an overnight charge, maybe Pete called him when he was asleep. He pressed the screen on, no calls. He sighed and noticed how all of Pete's things were still there. At least he didn't leave completely, maybe he was downstairs eating breakfast, or out doing some business. He didn't understand why Pete would do any of that without him, but it'll have to do.

There was a knock at the door, maybe it was Pete. Patrick scrambled to the door and others could say that you could see the excitement drain from his heavy eyes once he got the door open. It wasn't Pete, it was Joe. "W-What are you doing here?" He mumbled.

"Thought you deserved some more explaining, while Pete and Brendon were out." Joe responded.

"How did you know Pete wasn't here?"

"If Pete was here, he would've opened the door himself. Plus, his car isn't in the parking lot." Joe smirked.

Patrick nodded and set the heavy door farther to the left, shifting his body with it so that Joe could come inside from the freezing outdoors. Joe stumbled inside and threw his coat onto an arm chair before plopping himself onto the bed. "When did we get all grown up?" He chuckled.

"That's called getting out of high school and experiencing life, don't parade it around everyone." Patrick laid down beside Joe, them both staring to the ceiling.

"It was hard, getting the medication for your little brain every time your boyfriend and bestfriend fucked up." Joe sighed, Patrick looked to him. "Five years in the business. Can't believe it is finally over." He grinned and looked into Patrick's eyes. "I finally have my bestfriend back, instead of some brainwashed, lost school boy." Patrick smiled a little at that, his friends' happiness was always the most important thing to him. Seeing Joe happy again kept his heart warm, he would do anything to see that smile. It was all he would ever need. 

Joe sighed and sat back up, a blush creeping across his cheeks. "The only real thing about all of this was, Andy." He mumbled. "Andy was the one who kept me completely sane throughout all of this, he kept me in check. I have no idea how Brendon got through all of this, let alone Pete." He sighed again. 

"Where is Andy, by the way?"

"Visiting family. He figured that the three of us could handle it, considering we were the ones who contributed to actually making this run smoothly. He only helped with little stuff, I suppose." Patrick nodded at that.

-

It was now night time. The moon brightened the night sky, along with twinkling stars. Still, no one heard from Pete. You could imagine how worried Patrick was. He has called him about 27 times now, and maybe about 60 messages have been sent. No reply. 

"Where is he!" Patrick was panting in the passenger seat. They had still been out of town, where could have Pete possibly gone, so far from home? Since the morning, Andy arrived at the hotel to spend more time with Joe. It was the three of them now, and no sign of their friend.

"We should call Brendon, see if he knows anything." Andy mumbled from the backseat, in attempt to comfort Patrick in his state of distress.

"No, we can just head to our hotel room. I know he's there sleeping or some shit." Joe suggested. Then, they made their way to the hotel.

Patrick could feel his throat clenching up, and his eyes start to burn out. What was Patrick feeling? All of a sudden, all of these emotions popped up. He felt so protective of Pete now. The pills erased every memory of Pete, but not Patrick's emotions. Those were still there, and they always will be.

-

Patrick eagerly banged on the hotel room door, as if his most prized possessions were locked up inside. He tapped his foot steadily, thinking to distract himself from being so nervous. Anxiety was eating at his throat, and he didn't know why. Even his body was keeping secrets from him.

Joe groaned and handed Patrick his room key, which Patrick beamed at. He snatched the card away and slid it into the slot. His stomach jumped when he heard the door unlock, and he carefully pushed the door open. It was dark, but one lamp was still on. It was a big room, Patrick was surprisingly impressed with Joe and Brendon renting a room so large. I suppose they needed their space.

Patrick peered around the corner, his phone and room key clenched tightly in his sweaty palm. Then, he saw something. He saw a couch, with two figures on it. One was sitting (comfortably he assumed) and the other was sat right on the lap of the first one. Patrick planted his feet right there, right where he could get full view of these figures. They were moving uncontrollably, he could hear all the small breaths they were taking.

One of the figures started speaking, the one sitting on the lap of the first one. "Come on. If you could kiss and touch me once before, what's stopping you now. He won't find out this time, I promise you that. We know what would happen." The figures stopped moving for a second, then went back to it, softer this time.

Patrick could feel Joe and Andy stumble in behind him, then he heard a loud gasp, as if someone saw a ghost. Patrick didn't take his eyes off the figures, until his brain processed this. The figures had names. One was named Pete, and the other was a little like Joe, but a bit more tamed. The other loved Patrick to death, and Patrick knew that if the world was dark, the figure would be his light. The one on top of Pete, was named Brendon.

Pete's eyes went wide as Patrick's presence was of his knowledge. He pushed Brendon of his lap and rushed to Patrick, his eyes were already forming teats. "It's not what it looks like, please, please, no it's not happening again no." He was a mess.

Patrick was blank, he just stared at the weeping man clinging onto his shoulders. "You're right, it's not happening again." Patrick mumbled, Pete looked up at him.

Brendon was on the floor, his face in his hands. Patrick could hear him mumbling the words "fuck, fuck, fuck" over and over again. Pete's tears soaking his sleeves, his eyes were bright red. This time, Patrick didn't care. Patrick was fed up. That's when he mumbled the words that he would never regret, not in a billion years.

"Goodbye, Pete." With that, he walked right out the door, Joe and Andy following. He got back into the passenger seat and sighed. Andy and Joe were quiet, they were both as shocked as Patrick was. Joe started the car, and they were off.

Patrick was, tired. Taking this long car drive to think, he thought of what he was going to do when he finally got home. It was either torture of Joe asking millions of questions, or loneliness. The loneliness really only being another state of torture. Love, that was always something Patrick lost himself in. He always looked the wrong way and dialed the wrong number. His life was fairly calm in high school, he would have never thought that falling for the wrong person would happen in such a way. He was ready to move on and forget what's happened with the mysterious blonde, without needing to fuck up his brain first.

Patrick's life consisted of not knowing what to do, or being completely over his head. It wasn't until now, that he had found an in between. Patrick had no idea what he was going to do, but he did know that Joe was there by his side. Andy made Joe so happy. Patrick made Joe happy too. That's all he ever wanted, was for his friends to be happy. It meant the absolute world to him. Joe made Patrick feel real happiness when he thought he was doomed into misery. Patrick sleepily stared out of the car window and smiled small when he heard Andy and Joe laughing. They were now all he had, and all he would ever need.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really thinking of making a sequel? Do you think I should? Leave a comment.


End file.
